Chapter 216: A Strange Aftermath (Part 2)

  After steadying himself, Sandro looked at Ethan, said nothing, and had no expression.

  Ethan explained: "This wasn't my idea. I naturally don't know anything about things like a Court Magician..."

  Sandro remained expressionless and still said nothing, just slowly raised his right hand. On his right hand, four fingers were clenched into a fist, with only the middle one standing straight up.

  Ethan turned his head away and rolled his eyes. In this situation, anything said would be useless.

  After a short silence between the two, Ethan asked again: "What are you planning to do with the thing behind that wall?"

  "Which wall?" Sandro was taken aback.

  "That one. The one with a broken mark on it, the one that seems to have a lot of magic runes." Ethan was pointing at the wall in the distance of the dungeon. On it was a faint sword mark, which should be the wall that Javi had once tried to destroy. In fact, from the moment he came down, Ethan had felt the strange aura faintly emanating from there and knew that what Javi was seeking must be inside.

  But Sandro now revealed a very surprised expression and asked: "You can see the magic runes on it?"

  "Of course I can see them. Can't you see them? And the feeling emanating from there... isn't it quite distinct?" Ethan was, in turn, a bit surprised. Although these magic runes appeared and disappeared from time to time, they were definitely not an illusion caused by an eye trick. And the strange aura coming from there had been present all along. He really wondered why Javi, who had scouted this place in advance, hadn't discovered such obvious traces and instead had to question him. And he himself didn't know why, at that time, he had somehow failed to think of the things he had seen here last time.

  Sandro's complexion turned unnatural for a moment. He lowered his head without speaking, then suddenly reached out and grabbed Ethan's wrist.

  The old man's movements didn't seem particularly fast, but Ethan was caught before he could even react. A thick magical power then flashed through Ethan's entire body. Then he inexplicably said: "I was still wondering how you had the ability to erase those vampire marks all by yourself... It turns out you've really grown up..."

  After saying these inexplicable words, Sandro once again fell into a strange silence. This time his silence was heavy and deep, his head completely buried, so Ethan could not see any expression on his face.

  In the dungeon, only Javi's heavy panting remained. Depressed, heavy, and lifeless. Ethan suddenly felt inexplicably cold. The completely silent Sandro before him seemed a bit frightening.

  After who knows how long, the old man straightened his body and let out a long sigh. He once again reached out, grabbed Ethan's hand, and pulled him toward that wall. As he walked, he casually kicked out, and the Javi lying on the ground rolled and flew into a corner of a cell.

  Sandro stood before that wall, his gaze wandering between the wall surface and the cracks, at times solemn, at times drifting, until finally it froze. He let out a long sigh and said slowly: "The magic runes on this wall were written by Ronis and me together, using the well water from the Sunwell. And that well water was one of the treasures I brought out from Diya Valley. It is said to have been left behind by Lord Archibald... When we wrote them back then, we thought we would never open this place again in our lifetimes, nor would we let anyone else open it..."

  Since walking over and standing before this wall, he had not looked at Ethan again, speaking in a tone of self-talk. After another moment of silence, he looked up at Ethan and said: "But I now intend to show you what's inside, because you have the right to know."

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  "Wait, but I don't want to know..." Ethan began. He had previously wanted to ask what Javi had been so desperate to know, what Sandro and Ronis had been keeping here. But now, a strange pressure suddenly arose in his heart.

  "Now you have an obligation to know." Sandro ignored him, placing his own hand on the wall and slowly chanting a spell.

  The wall slowly parted in the middle. Countless magic runes continuously emerged and floated in the air and the wall. Behind the wall was a not-so-large space, but Ethan felt as if he was standing before a giant, dark maw that could devour the world. An aura that seemed not to exist, yet was incomparably turbulent, surged out. It was an endless black, a black that even devoured darkness itself.

  In the distant corner, the body of Javi, who had been no different from a dead man, suddenly trembled, but then became still again.

  When Ethan came out of the Grand Cathedral, the time was already dusk. The square was filled with the figures of priests and mages.

  For the time being, there was no great chaos in the Magic Academy. The High Priests were still managing everything in an orderly manner, but some restlessness among the people was inevitable. The Cardinal had suddenly disappeared, the Grand Cathedral was heavily guarded, and the teleportation array was closed, which indeed made people a bit panicky. Fortunately, they did not know the inside story, so it had not yet descended into uncontrollable chaos. The royal capital was also still in a state that was barely peaceful. The terrifying storm in the palace had not spread to the outside, and naturally, no one had taken the initiative to publicize that strange turn of events.

  People's acceptance of events usually has its own psychological limits. That the Cardinal was actually a Necromancer, and that another, even more powerful Necromancer had saved the lives of His Majesty the Emperor and Commander Roland, and then joined forces with the murderer who had once killed Bishop Ronis to break this conspiracy and save the Queen... such a story was absolutely beyond the acceptance limits of the vast majority of people.

  Fortunately, although there were not a few people who saw all this, those people were not the "vast majority." Under the half-concealed, half-story, half-fact explanation from Commander Roland and the Chancellor, the old ministers gradually understood and accepted these seemingly bizarre events. The swordsmen and mages of the Paladin Order were even less of a concern; a single order from Commander Roland was enough to make them keep their mouths shut forever. So the most critical thing now was to find a good way to handle the aftermath.

  The aftermath of this matter was not so easy. The one captured was a Cardinal personally dispatched by His Majesty the Pope. If his actual identity from Diya Valley were made public, it would be more excessive than directly dumping a cart of manure on The Radiant Citadel, and it was impossible for others to believe it. So although the rupture of relations with Celeste was almost inevitable, the wording still needed careful consideration.

  But Ethan wasn't too worried about these things. Someone else would handle them, and he had his own things to attend to. He came to the crematory platform in a corner of the Magic Academy. Priests and mages were already waiting for him there.

  "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."

  The raging flames gushing from the hands of three fire mages enveloped Jessica's body, submerging all contours in that dazzling light. Two other priests were using white magic on the cremation platform. There was not the slightest smell of burning in the air; this was the effect of combining white magic and fire magic. Originally, it was a funeral treatment that only the most devout believers and clergy could enjoy.

  Ethan stared woodenly at the flames. Even with his eyesight, he couldn't see clearly how that body turned to ash in the bright, fierce flames. He only knew that the dark, agile figure had disappeared from his side forever. When that figure existed, he hadn't paid much attention to it, but only now that it was lost did he feel that it was, shockingly, the only source of warmth by his side during this time.

  It wasn't the kind of intense gentleness that could move people, make them forget life and death, and disregard everything. That kind of thing only existed in the fantasies of a youth who knew nothing. Rather, this emotion was very faint, perhaps not even considered an emotion at the beginning. So faint that it was easy to overlook. And so faint that it would unknowingly blend into your life. And only when you discovered it was gone did you feel that a piece of your life was missing, and only then did you understand that this was perhaps the most real emotion.

  Ethan just stared blankly. The grief in his heart was not the kind of gut-wrenching pain, but rather a heavy, dark undercurrent, forever flowing in the deepest part of his heart, becoming a strength in his soul.

  The flames dissipated. Jessica's once beautiful body was gone. On the cremation platform, there was now a pile of ashes. Just as the priest had chanted in his prayer, no matter what, in the end, it could only be ashes to ashes, dust to dust... Ethan shed one last tear from the corner of his eye. The feeling of the tear sliding down the layer of his magic mask was strange.

  Two priests stepped forward to collect the ashes on the platform. They did not ask why a Drow from Nighon was being cremated here. Enough strange things had happened in the royal capital these past few days. The High Priests had given an order; they just had to obediently follow it.

  "Hmm? Sir, what is this..." a priest discovered something in the ashes and took out a small, black gemstone to give to Ethan.

  It was a round gemstone, the size of a thumb, crystal clear, with a faint, strange magical fluctuation. When cleaning Jessica's body, this had not been discovered. It seemed to have been buried somewhere inside her body, and she had never mentioned it herself. Perhaps she was unwilling to say, or perhaps even she didn't know about it.

  Ethan took the gemstone and put it away. The priests collected her ashes together, placed them in a jar, and handed it to him. In one hand, he held the gemstone buried in her body; in the other, he held her ashes. Ethan felt a bit lost. He didn't know where he should ultimately put these things.

  A Drow who had defected from Nighon drifted aimlessly across the continent. Nighon no longer acknowledged her as a traitor. And on the surface, nowhere seemed to be her home.

  After thinking for a moment, Ethan still put these things into his own robes. It seemed that carrying them with him was the only appropriate choice.

  Walking out of the crematory platform, the afterglow of the setting sun was about to disappear into the darkness. All the scenery struggled to exist, relying on the last light from the horizon. A loud cry echoed in the high sky where dusk and night alternated. It was the call of a Wyvern. After Sophia sent someone with a teleportation scroll to inform Sedros, Oufu had finally sent people.